A HERO, LOCALLY AND NATIONALLY – Mayor Richard Turner, Director of Public Safety Jeff Welz, and Deputy Police Chief Kevin McClellan promoted Weehawken police officer Rene Roa Jr. from sergeant to lieutenant at a Township Council meeting Wednesday night. Roa Jr. joined the police force in 1999, following in the footsteps of his father, the late Rene Roa Sr., who served the township for 25 years. Roa Jr. became a sergeant in 2007. He is also a 15-year veteran of the Army National Guard and served on tour of duty in Iraq. He currently holds the rank of captain and is the company commander of an infantry unit.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Small Business Administration told township officials Friday morning that they have extended the deadline for victims of Hurricane Sandy to apply for federal assistance to March 4. Weehawken residents can visit www.disasterassistance.gov to apply, or call the township’s special hotline at (201) 319-8985.

Jersey City Medical Center, in cooperation with various dental associations and schools, will host the 11th annual Give Kids a Smile day on Friday, Feb. 1 at its 412 Summit Ave. site from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

On this day, dentists will provide children ages 12 and under with free dental care. The program targets children who do not have regular access to dental care. More than 100 children are expected to be seen by dentists during Give Kids a Smile day. Between the Jersey City Medical Center dentists and volunteers, more than a dozen dental practitioners are expected to participate.

Give Kids a Smile is a national program sponsored by the American Dental Association to bring attention to childhood tooth decay. At last year’s event, more than one million children in the U.S. and 4,000 kids in New Jersey received over $100 million in free dental care.

Children will receive a comprehensive dental exam, oral healthcare instruction, fluoride treatments, and free dental materials including toothbrushes, floss and toothpaste. Referrals, where necessary, will be made for continuing treatment.

New Jersey runs one of the most successful Give Kids a Smile programs in the country. The statewide event is sponsored by the New Jersey Dental Association, in cooperation with the New Jersey Dental Hygienists’ Association, the New Jersey Dental Assistants’ Association, and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Dental School.

It is suggested that appointments be made ahead of time by calling (201) 499-1972 or (201) 499-1975.

The real problem is that dentists won't treat these people the rest of the year because they want more money to do so. Untreated tooth decay has become a national epidemic because 80% of dentists refuse to treat Medicaid patients, 130 million AMericans don't have dental insurance and many of those that do can't afford dentistry's high out of pocket expenses.

There is a solution - to allow dental therapists to work in the US as they do in other developed countries. They just need a few years training and are able to drill, fill and pull teeth as well as dentists but will do it more cheaply and treat the people that dentists won't or can't.

THe problem is that organized dentistry, with its pockets full of corporate cash, lobby all state legislators to shun dental therapists because they don't want any viable solutions to infringe upon its lucrative monopoly.

So it might seem that kind dentists are doing charitable work but they have caused the problem in the first place